Sundries & Curiosities for the Adventurous. A Tribal Inquiry.

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can we know the depth of suffering?

The world is not imperfect

or slowly evolving along a path to perfection.

No, it is perfect at every moment,

every sin already carries grace in it.
…..Hermann Hesse

personal power shines through our integrity, our imperfections, our strength through faith…..when we help each other, we come to understand suffering a little better, are able to hold it a little more lightly, and absorb the goodness we seek a little more fully….hope is not simply an empty value….it is a tool…..

I think it is important to remember that the Buddha was simply a man who looked directly at suffering and death and let those two guide him to a more meaningful and merciful life. Others have done the same. The Buddha seems to have been a very brave human being. We can be brave, too. What he went through is not so far from what you and I have experienced in our own lives. By being with his own suffering, the Buddha learned how to transform it, ultimately awakening to what is real, what is true. He did not avoid his own misery or that of others. He saw that in the mess of our misery, many gifts may be discovered, including the gift of mercy. Suffering brought him closer to the heart of his spiritual life, and suffering led him to freedom. Even though we might be able to figure this out logically, we must first experience the liberation of ourselves to make this truth real. The Buddha knew that suffering could not be transformed by telling someone how to do it. Realization comes about through direct experience. Since most of us haven’t savored real freedom just yet, it is important to have faith that freedom from suffering is possible. Faith like this is not an idea but an experience. It is a kind of bright longing from some place deep inside of ourselves that senses the mystery of boundlessness. Faith helps us to stop and look deeply……Roshi Joan Halifax

Suffering is simply a definition of life as we know it. Since the fall, there is nothing but awareness of this realm, and to wrap the term suffering arounfd it is appropriate (I think) since we are now immersed in matter, know the feeling of every cold biting wind, the sweat on our brow of a hot summer day … we define our lives in words, and thoughts, which then create feelings …. Feeling connected to life, we suffer an outrageous forture! We get to live more fully, know why it is we came and were it is we are going … consciousness … a gift or a curse … we get to choose!

somehow we are here to learn…..we know not why…..chasing our tails I think…..the only way it makes sense is by knowing love, giving fully, and then letting go….I have no idea why, but I know it to be true…..may the gifts in this day choose you g.f.s…

I am sometimes amazed at those (my students among them) who struggle so hard to keep their scars hidden. They puff out their chests and in doing so, forget that it pulls the wings in too close. To live is to die. To ache is to love. To jump is to fall, is to fly. ~ Bobbie